Photograph by: Colleen De Neve
, Calgary Herald

The man they call Peanut south of the border made quite the introduction for himself Friday night under the lights at McMahon Stadium.Clifton Smith, a former NFL Pro Bowler, could have easily walked away from the game for good at the wise old age of 28. After all, he owns a credit-card processing business and a steam-cleaning operation in Tampa, Fla. And he actually enjoys life as a stay-at-home dad to his two toddlers, diapers and all.

But the lure of the game proved too strong to resist, so Smith left the Florida sunshine two weeks back to join the Calgary Stampeders.

On his first CFL touch, Smith ran back the opening kickoff 54 yards Friday night against the B.C. Lions. With the game deadlocked at 26-26 in the fourth quarter, the running back/return specialist snagged a six-yard touchdown grab to give the Stamps a lead they would never relinquish.

Talk about a stellar debut in a 40-26 victory.

“He’s been here for a couple weeks but to get forced into a game like that and to come up with a big play and scoring a touchdown, it was big,” said quarterback Kevin Glenn. “He’s played a lot of football in the NFL so he’s played in some big games.

“He prepares very well and he knew what was going on and came up with a big catch.”

A big catch in a big game with massive playoff implications for both teams. With the victory, the Stamps pull six points ahead of the Lions (9-6) and the Saskatchewan Roughriders (9-5) in the race for first place and a bye to the West final.

In the unlikely event Edmonton upsets Saskatchewan Saturday (don’t bet on it), the Stamps will clinch a home playoff date.

Otherwise, Jon Cornish and Co. will need to take care of their own business next Friday in Edmonton.

“Everyone’s fighting for position in the West, first, second and third,” Glenn said. “We knew it was going to be tough. They have a really good defence and they came to play. We knew if we took care of our turnovers and executed our offence, then we’d be alright.

“I can’t express it anymore — this was really a big, big win. For us to win like we did last week and then have a team like this coming here who we’re fighting for that first place with. To go ahead and beat them in our place like this is really big.”

Speaking of big, Cornish checked in with his seventh 100-yard game of the season. The pride of New Westminster, B.C. toted the ball 15 times for 130 yards and a touchdown to break his own record for most rushing yards for a Canadian in a single season (1,545).

After the game, however, Cornish wanted to talk about the bigger picture.

“It means a lot but if we lose the next few, it doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “We’ve gotta continue doing whatever we’ve been doing that’s made us successful.”

Upon viewing the game film, the Stamps will no doubt see several areas for improvement especially in a first half where the offence stalled five times on the B.C. side of the field (Rene Paredes went 4-for-5 on field goals with a rare miss from 43 yards out.

But with the game on the line, Smith scored his first CFL touchdown (aided in no small part by a 38-yard Cornish run) and Chris Randle picked off a Thomas DeMarco pass that he returned 65 yards for the major to seal the win.

“We were facing adversity, and Chris Randle made that big play,” said linebacker Keon Raymond. “Guys were willing to step up.”

Smith stepped into the lineup as a backup running back (in place of the injured Matt Walter.) As a result, veteran receiver/return specialist Larry Taylor sat as a healthy scratch.

The Stamps originally courted Smith more than five years ago at a Florida mini-camp, only to watch him go onto glory in the big league to the south.

If his first game is any indication, the wait was more than worth it for Stamps fans.

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